


A fresh start

by Berenaholic



Category: Holby City
Genre: Antidote to the trauma of the Winter trailer, F/F, Fluff, berena - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-07 01:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8778235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Berenaholic/pseuds/Berenaholic
Summary: My heart can't take all the angst of the winter trailer, so to reassure and distract myself, and maybe you, this is a story set after all of that at Eastertime with a happy ending. It takes into consideration some of the spoilers we've seen and the Berena story to date (up to Glass Houses).Feedback, as always, very welcome.





	1. An Easter egg hunt...

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for any errors/typos in advance! This has not been beta'd.

Serena stood up, placing her hand on her back as she did so. "All this bending over," she thought, "I'm not as supple as I once was." 

"Still, it’ll be worth it to see their smiles," she mused to herself. 

It was Easter Monday and she'd just finished hiding the 36th Easter egg in her large garden, ready for the inaugural Campbell/Wolfe egg hunt later that afternoon. It had been a hell of a few months, and she was looking forward to having Cameron, Charlotte, Jason, and Elinor over for a fun and relaxing afternoon. 

She looked around, a proud smile creeping across her lips as she surveyed the garden. It had become her place of refuge over the winter months, the soil proving a willing recipient of her emotions and tears as she’d struggled to deal with the aftermath of Elinor’s accident. The garden was now paying her back for all her hard work with a stunning display of blooms. Everywhere she looked there were new shoots and beautiful petals waving in the breeze. 

She had used the plants to her advantage in hiding the chocolate. Gold wrapped eggs were in the daffodils by the fence, small pink and purple foil ones were hidden amongst the sweet peas by the house, and white ones were in and around her pride and joy, a massive magnolia tree in full bloom in the centre of the garden. She couldn’t wait to watch the children try to find them all. 

Suddenly a pair of arms snaked around her waist, providing a surprising but welcome warmth from the still chilly spring air. “Okay, my love?” the owner of the arms questioned. 

“Yes.” She whispered, pulling herself back from her reverie. Serena turned to face the beautiful blonde medic, gazing into her loving brown eyes for a moment. Bernie’s eyes were slightly crinkled in concern, trying to read Serena’s mind. “Yes.” Serena said more firmly, kissing Bernie’s lips in reassurance, “I was just thinking about how beautiful the garden is now and how wonderful it will be to have the children over this afternoon.”

Bernie hugged Serena more tightly to her, feeling better now that she knew Serena was alright. 

It had been awful to watch the woman she loved suffer with worry through the dark days after Elinor’s accident. She had felt so impotent, desperately wanting to fix everything, but unable to do so and she still worried about her when she saw her stare off into space. 

If only she could have swapped places with Serena, waved a magic wand to make everything better, she thought, she'd have done so in an instant. Anything to take the brunette’s pain and sense of guilt away. 

So in the absence of a magic wand, Bernie had instead tried to be everything else to Serena. A pillar of strength, a safe space to vent, a warm space to cuddle into where she could let her tears fall, in fact anything and everything that Serena needed. 

It hadn’t always gone to plan. At the beginning Serena hadn’t trusted her, their relationship had been so new and her memories of Bernie’s abandonment so fresh. She had pushed Bernie away, tried to pretend that she could manage.

But Bernie was nothing if not determined, and so even when Serena had taken out every emotion on her, she had simply showered her with more love and patience, wiped her tears away, and whispered comforting words into her ears. And slowly it had worked.

Their relationship was now stronger than ever. Serena still had dark days, days when she wished things had been different, that Elinor had never got behind that wheel, that she’d found her in the bathroom sooner, that she’d told her about Bernie earlier, but she no longer buried her sorrows at the bottom of a bottle of Shiraz. Now, if she was feeling down, she would find her blonde army medic and a hug and kiss from her would set her back on track. 

Right now, Serena's mind was only on the stunning blonde in her arms. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she had felt so loved, so cherished and so desired as she did now. She hugged Bernie back, her hands slipping down from the blonde’s waist to tug her body closer to her.

Bernie felt Serena’s mood shift, and willingly moulded her body back against the woman’s. A shiver of arousal ran through her. She never ceased to marvel at how lucky she was to be able to touch and hold the beautiful brunette. She ran her fingertips up her lover’s arms, curled them around her neck and into her hair, pulling her lips to hers in a sensuous kiss. Serena eagerly kissed her back, and they lost themselves in each other's touch. 

Eventually, Serena pulled back panting, throwing Bernie a cheeky look and a raised eyebrow which left Bernie in no doubt as to where her thoughts had ended up.

“No, Fraulein,” Bernie smiled at her. “Much as I want to take you to bed and ravish every inch of your body,” earning a blush on the brunette’s face as she named their shared thoughts, “the kids will be here soon and there is still so much to do. I want this afternoon to be perfect for us all.” 

“We’d have had time if you hadn’t left everything to the last minute as usual”, Serena lovingly admonished her, the blonde’s disorganisation was a running joke between them. 

“I know. I’ll make it up to you later.” Bernie promised with a grin. Serena’s gentle reprimand rolled off her like water off a duck’s back. “The waiting will be worth it.” 

Serena laughed. “I’ll hold you to that.” She took Bernie by the hand and slipped back into the organised and slightly bossy Serena that her colleagues knew and loved. 

“Come on then, my love, what have you got left to do?" She said, leading her back towards the house. 

“Oh not much,” came the reply, “just the table to set, the cake to bake, the living room to hoover and the Shiraz to uncork. ”

“Did you actually do anything while I was in the garden?” Serena asked.

“Umm, well, I might have been a bit distracted by watching a beautiful woman.” Bernie admitted with a blush. 

Serena giggled, and Bernie’s heart sang to hear it. It had been all too rare a sound for a while. “I’ll let you off…this time” she retorted. “And I'll help you. But I expect full payment later!" 

"I'll pay with interest Ms Campbell" came the quiet reply, full of promise, love and no small hint of lust.


	2. Fly me to the moon

Somehow the two women had achieved the impossible and had finished all the chores with time to spare before their offspring’s arrival. They were now sitting in companionable silence at the large oak kitchen table nursing cups of coffee. The radio played softly in the background.

Serena had the weekend part of the newspaper in her hands, trying to do a fiendishly difficult Suduko puzzle. It had been a hobby that Jason had suggested as something to occupy her whilst she had sat at Elinor’s bedside. Now she was hopelessly addicted to them. The logic soothed her mind.

Bernie sat opposite her, ostensibly reading the travel section of the same newspaper. In actual fact, though she was thinking nervously about the afternoon ahead. She really wanted it to go well! 

Her thoughts were particularly focussed on Charlotte. Things were still a little delicate between mother and daughter, although they were at least now on speaking terms - thanks to Cameron’s intervention and careful mediation.

They’d started meeting fortnightly for lunch, gently trying to repair years of miscommunication and long absences. Bernie had awkwardly told Charlotte about Serena early on, keen to be open with her daughter, and prove she wasn’t the ‘cold reserved mother’ Charlotte had described in her letter to the courts. 

Charlotte, to Bernie’s surprise and delight had been remarkably accepting of her mother’s new relationship. But although they had talked about Serena, quite a bit as it happened, (once Bernie got started, she found it hard to stop), Charlotte hadn’t yet formally met her. 

Today would be the first time. Bernie was praying that the two most important women in her life would love each other as much as she loved them. 

Bernie unconsciously twisted her hands awkwardly on her coffee cup as the thoughts ran through her head. 

Serena caught the movement out of the corner of her eye. “Darling, what’s wrong?” she murmured, sliding one hand over Bernie’s and gently rubbing circles over her knuckles with her thumb. 

“What do you me..?” Bernie started to ask, before swiftly registering her own nerves for herself. “It’s nothing” she reassured the brunette. “I just want today to go well.” she added. She smiled fondly at Serena who to her surprise, began to sing softly, taking Bernie’s other hand and holding her gaze in her own. 

“Fly me to the moon  
Let me play among the stars  
Let me see what spring is like on  
A-Jupiter and Mars  
In other words, hold my hand  
In other words, baby, kiss me”

It took a moment before Bernie realised that Serena was singing along with the music on the radio, using Frank Sinatra’s words as her own. 

Serena had the most beautiful voice that Bernie thought she had ever heard, clear, rich and full of passion. All her worries disappeared from her mind as she fell completely and utterly under the other woman’s spell. 

“Fill my heart with song and let me sing for ever more  
You are all I long for  
All I worship and adore  
In other words, please be true  
In other words, I love you”

Serena tugged Bernie to her feet and wrapped her in a warm hug, continuing to sing softly against Bernie’s cheek. 

“Fill my heart with song  
Let me sing for ever more  
You are all I long for, all I worship and adore  
In other words, please be true  
In other words  
In other words  
I love you”

As the song finished, Serena kissed Bernie, ghosting her lips against the blonde’s. “I love you darling.” She added. “We’re going to have a wonderful afternoon together.” 

“And Charlotte and I will get on just fine.” Bernie looked at her in surprise, wondering just when she had become so completely transparent to the brunette. 

“OK?” Serena continued, her eyes smiling as she observed the blonde's surprise and looked for any trace of her earlier nerves. 

“Yes”, Bernie replied, her heart swelling with more love for Serena than she thought possible. “Yes, my love” she repeated with confidence, her earlier worries laid aside. 

Just then they heard the rattle of the front door. “Mum, we’re here!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To hear Fly Me to the Moon in all its Big Band glory please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhMmBlL81nw.


End file.
